Zendaya keen to avoid role model label

Zendaya would like to avoid being labelled as a role model.

The American singer-actress got her start in Hollywood by appearing in the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up. As well as a role in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, she’s snapped up a contract with Covergirl makeup and is designing her own line of clothes and accessories, Daya by Zendaya.

In spite of her success, the 20-year-old is hesitant to be put on a pedestal.

“I’m not playing a role model,” she told Sunday Times Style. “I’m not putting on a visage or something that people want me to be. I’d much rather be a real model than a role model, because one day people are just going to find out that you were pretending.”

Zendaya boasts an impressive 34.6 million followers on Instagram. And she’s happy to embrace social media, as she sees having a platform where she can interact with her many fans as “exciting”.

“I would say the big thing to learn from Millennials is openness. Because we have access to everything, we have the world in our hands, we have the Internet – it’s right in your face, and you have to be confronted by it,” she shared.

Meanwhile, the California native adds that she had an innate interest in performing from a young age. But she admits she couldn’t have hit the big time without the support of her parents.

“I guess ambition is something I’ve always had,” smiled Zendaya. “But I give a lot of credit to my parents. They are strong, hardworking, determined, generous people. They are both educators. I have family with me all the time.”